2 posts from October 1992

Tuesday, October 20, 1992

A schoolkid, a symbol of all that is innocent, is killed at Cabrini-Green, struck down by gunfire while performing an ordinary childhood act.

Police say the fatal shot was fired by a gang member with a history of weapons violations and was not meant for the victim. An uncle of the victim, however, had ties to the Black Disciples.

The public is shocked and outraged at the senseless tragedy, at the idea that children anywhere are so vulnerable to random violence. The Tribune editorializes:

Perhaps a new round of anger . . . can rekindle public efforts to attack the burdensome problems of which street gangs are only a part. To do less is to give up and wait for more gunshots. . . .

In the aftermath of the killing, the executive director of the Chicago Housing Authority vows to secure vacant apartments in the projects, the mayor of Chicago says the city will work to improve public housing and stress stronger law enforcement there, and a coalition of police, CHA officials and clergymen say they will coordinate efforts to quell the violence.

A talk radio host decries this as a ``time of war.``

Students at Jenner Elementary School adjacent to Cabrini-Green grieve for their fallen classmate who, several days after the slaying, is laid to rest in a tiny coffin at Washington Memory Gardens Cemetery in Homewood.

If the story of the murder of 7-year-old Dantrell Davis, gunned down last Tuesday on his way to school, sounded vaguely familiar, it might have been because it had strong parallels to the story, told above, of the murder of 9- year-old Laketa Crosby in 1985.

She was standing in the breezeway of a Cleveland Avenue high-rise waiting her turn at the double-dutch jump rope on a hot July night. Suddenly, a gang quarrel over territory broke out on either side of her.

The gang members drew their guns and began firing. The girls at the jump rope scattered, but Laketa was hit in the chest as she ran, and she died in the hospital five hours later.

It was the 14th homicide at Cabrini-Green that year, but the most appalling by many lights for what it symbolized.

``Those animals don`t care who gets hit or why,`` said Laketa`s grandmother. ``They shoot during the day and night, and when they shoot, we`ve got to crawl on the floor away from the window.``

``What happened to that little girl could happen anytime,`` community organizer Velva Sweezer told a reporter.

``(Gang members) used to shoot at a target, pick out a guy and try to kill him for some reason they had,`` said Belmont Area Police Cmdr. Edward Wodnicki. ``But now they . . . shoot into a crowd. They don`t care who they kill. How the hell are you supposed to deal with that?``

As the public demanded answers, Zirl Smith, then CHA executive director, said his agency would secure all vacant apartments with steel doors. The Chicago Intervention Network, a city anti-gang coalition, said police foot patrols would increase in the projects. Mayor Harold Washington seconded the call for greater law enforcement at the CHA and told residents, ``If you violate the law, you`re going to jail.``

Mike Royko pointed out that week that ``nobody . . . is going to wave a wand and change things overnight. Surely not fast enough to save the next Laketa Crosby.``

He was right. The next Laketa Crosby was 12-year-old Richard Barners, shot in the head five months later by someone who mistook him for a gang member. Then came another young victim and another and another.

Increased police patrols came and went and the vacant apartments were never secured-indeed, Dantrell Davis` assailant is alleged to have fired from one.

We forgot about Laketa Crosby.

What this suggests is that it is still too early for us to take the real measure of our response to the killing of Dantrell Davis. It is too early to feel relief that new anti-crime initiatives and community determination have caused a permanent change for the better.

Dantrell Davis` death will have a larger meaning only if we refuse to let it fade away. It will remain important only if we remember it in seven years, if his name and that blurry photo of him with downcast eyes still haunt us and serve as a constant imperative to make and keep life in public housing safe for the innocents, at least.

Sunday, October 11, 1992

"If the Clinton/Gore team were to be elected," said the coach last week, "it would be the biggest step backward this country has taken in its 200 years of existence."

The remark came at the end of a speech at the Hyatt Regency Chicago in which Ditka offered both social commentary and a brief comparative analysis of economic conditions in the Carter and Bush eras while endorsing Illinois' Republican senatorial candidate.

It was shades of 1989, when Ditka, a Lake County resident, proclaimed, "Chicago deserves the greatest mayor," during the city primary campaign. "I think Rich (Daley) can fulfill that," he went on. "He's already a winner."

The Daley endorsement came a few months after Ditka had thundered in a newspaper ad that, "The next president of the United States must be able to build on Ronald Reagan's record of peace through strength. George Bush is that man!"

In the voting booth, however, the coach has had less to say.

Since 1984, there have been 17 primary and general elections in Lake County in which Bears coach Mike Ditka was or might have been eligible to vote. Lake County Clerk Linda Hess said records show the coach has stayed on the sidelines for 14 of them. He's voted just three times, Hess said records show: in the 1984 and 1988 general elections and in a 1985 primary.

This spring, Ditka endorsed Lake County Republican state representative candidate Andrea Moore in her primary race against Ralph Swank. "(Diana Ditka and I) continue to support Andrea because we care about Lake County and the state of Illinois," said his endorsement, mailed to voters on a postcard. "Andrea will make an outstanding representative."

Moore squeaked out a narrow victory, but did Ditka vote for her? Couldn't have. Lake County records say he wasn't even eligible to cast a ballot because his registration lapsed in 1989 when he moved from unincorporated Grayslake to his current home in Bannockburn.

As of Friday afternoon, Ditka's name was not on the list of voters eligible for next month's election, Hess said, but the registration deadline was Monday and the office still has more than 20,000 last-minute applications to process. Ditka's will be among them, promised Bears public relations director Bryan Harlan.

Over the years, gridiron success has inspired Ditka to tell the rest of us what kind of cars to drive, gum to chew, soup to eat, bank to patronize, brand of undergarment to wear, rustproofing to apply, antifreeze to use, decongestant to take, airline to fly, and place to shop for home electronics.

Other sports personalities play the endorsement game as well, but Ditka differs in two key respects. One is that, while he spews advice freely, he is notoriously touchy when others seem to try to give him advice. "You know where you can plant your lips" was his reported response to those who had other ideas about how he should have comported himself during last week's game.

A second difference is that Ditka, unlike every other coach and manager in town, freely crosses the line into politics. Who does he think he is, one of those Hollywood experts like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Richard Dreyfuss? Even Bulls coach and reconstructed hippie Phil Jackson, who attended this summer's Democratic convention, declines to endorse candidates.

We are all entitled our opinions, of course, about politics, football, nasal sprays and everything else. Some of Ditka's may even be right on the money, as when he asked his audience Wednesday, "Isn't it about time to put the words 'ethics' and 'integrity' back into politics?"

Sure it is. In theory.

But in life, remember, you can't put anything back into politics if you don't put yourself into the voting booth.

About "Change of Subject."

"Change of Subject" by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn contains observations, reports, tips, referrals and tirades, though not necessarily in that order. Links will tend to expire, so seize the day. For an archive of Zorn's latest Tribune columns click here. An explanation of the title of this blog is here. If you have other questions, suggestions or comments, send e-mail to ericzorn at gmail.com.
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Contributing editor Jessica Reynolds is a 2012 graduate of Loyola University Chicago and is the coordinator of the Tribune's editorial board. She can be reached at jreynolds at tribune.com.